More News About Morrison’s Wonder Woman

On Kevin Smith’s Podcast Fatman on Batman episode #44, posted on August 14, 2013, Smith interviewed Grant Morrison. They discussed many topics, mostly revolving around Batman. However, at about the 30 minute mark, they started talking about Morrison’s upcoming Wonder Woman: Earth One book.

Grant Morrison announced that the title for the book is now The Trial of Diana Prince. It is speculated that the official title is still Wonder Woman: Earth One and that The Trial of Diana Prince is simply a subtitle.

Through the interview and like every interview he’s done, Morrison spends quite a bit of time obsessing over the sex lives of William Moulton Marston, his wife, and their lover. He talks extensively about the bondage elements, coming off seeming like bondage is the single most important element of the character.

Instantly, for me, I’m looking… You’ve got Batman, and Batman fights crime. And Superman’s sci-fi and social realism in the early days. Wonder Woman is about sex and alternative sexuality.

Really? Okay. So Wonder Woman is to alternative sexuality as Superman is to science fiction. That’s… That seems to be focusing on the wrong elements of what makes Wonder Woman such an interesting character, but okay Grant.

You’ve got like… 7,000 years, these women, they’ve been enslaved by Hercules and the greeks. They break out, they kill all the dudes. They head off and said “We’re going to create our own society free from the curse of men.” And they create Paradise Island…. And 7,000 years later, the same women are still alive cause they’ve conquered death. And the only new one that’s been born is Diana, the princess, Wonder Woman. So the idea is like… what happens like… a hundred years in, they’ve all fucked each other and they’ve built the buildings….

Smith and Morrison discuss how these women are frozen in basically the “same afternoon” because there is no masculinity. Their architecture is “haunted by the phallic memory of Hercules and the men.”

At this point in the interview, they finally start discussing the story. Diana discovers Steve Trevor crashed on the island and she runs away to “Man’s World” with him. She soon discovers it’s not just Man’s World any more; it’s men and women. However, the Amazons soon unleash the Gorgon on Diana to bring her back to Paradise Island to stand trial for her crimes. Apparently during the trial, Steve Trevor has to explain why men like porn…?

Morrison also says that he deals with Diana’s “birthed from clay” elements, since he felt that origin made her too remote from us. No spoilers on what he’s done with it. He also calls it a Disney Princess type story.

Yanick Paquette has finished 20 of the 120 pages for the story, and thus far the artwork is absolutely gorgeous.

The Guardian has another interview with Morrison about this project, where he once again goes on and on about the creator’s sex lives and Wonder Woman’s bondage elements. He explains why he’s “resurrecting Wonder Woman,” as if she hasn’t been published since the 1940s.

The more I hear about the story, the more I feel it is focusing on all the wrong elements of Wonder Woman. Yes, these are elements that were really important to the creation of the character, and who she was in the 1940s. But this just isn’t what she is now. I just don’t think this is going to be the story that brings Wonder Woman to the forefront of the public eye like Morrison seems to believe. And to be honest, I haven’t enjoyed any of the Earth One graphic novels thus far.

I’ll definitely buy Wonder Woman: Earth One. The story sounds interesting enough, despite focusing on archaic elements of her creation. But even if the story is complete nonsense, Paquette’s artwork alone will be worth the price of the book.

And my honest opinion: If this book makes anyone out there decide to delve deeper into Wonder Woman and her stories, it’ll be a success in my eyes. Anything that brings more people to Wonder Woman is good.

Still, I am worried.

No official date for it yet, especially considering Yanick Paquette still has 100 pages left to draw (in addition to his normal monthly duties). Hopefully we’ll see this book early 2014.